[1][2] The night's big winner was USA for Africa's "We Are the World", which won four awards, including Song of the Year which went to Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie.
The Manhattan Transfer also won three awards, including two for the song "Another Night in Tunisia" (performed and arranged on the album by guest vocalists Jon Hendricks and Bobby McFerrin).
Stevie Wonder won his first Grammy in nine years for his album In Square Circle, after winning fifteen awards in the mid-1970s.
These four wins were the result of an unusually large number of nominations for the orchestra (12 in total), including four in the Best Classical Album category which normally holds five nominees (the Recording Academy decided to add a number of nominations to this list to lessen the domination of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in this category).
Several sources from the American classical community – including record labels – expressed their dismay with the situation, suggesting that this was the result of many members of the orchestra and other associates joining the Recording Academy in force to be able to vote on nominations and Grammy winners.